Minot man dies in oilfield accident near Stanley

STANLEY, N.D. - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a Minot man that occurred last week on an oilfield location near Stanley.

By:
Staff reports, Forum Communications News Service

STANLEY, N.D. - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a Minot man that occurred last week on an oilfield location near Stanley.

Joshua Hoiland, 31, died Thursday at a site south of Stanley, said the Mountrail County Sheriff’s Office.

Preliminary information indicates that Hoiland was cleaning the inside of an oilfield vacuum truck when the agitator came on and he became caught in the movement of the agitator, said Eric Brooks, area director for the Bismarck OSHA office. He died at the scene, Brooks said.

A report from the North Dakota State Forensic Examiner’s Office said Hoiland died from blunt chest injuries. The injury occurred about 7 p.m. last Thursday, the report said.

Hoiland worked for First Choice Energy of Minot. This is the seventh workplace fatality investigated by the Bismarck OSHA office since Oct. 1, the fourth from the oil and gas industry, Brooks said.